The Assembly voted 61-4 Thursday to ratify contracts with three state employee bargaining units that include some modifications to pension benefits - agreements that the Schwarzenegger administration worked out with the affected unions.
The ratification...
In a basement office that serves as a police headquarters and community center, Oakland Chinatown leaders pored over maps of the neighborhood with representatives from a private security firm last week.
"Many of our merchants are already installing...
More state and local law enforcement officers are getting top-secret clearances from the FBI to access sensitive federal information in terrorism cases than at anytime since the Sept. 11 attacks, a USA TODAY review of bureau records shows.
Clearances...
Los Angeles firefighters on Friday said lives were in danger because of staffing cuts - a claim that sparked accusations from a city councilman that they were exaggerating to foment public fear.
Flanked by more than a dozen off-duty firefighters, Pat...
In a rare move the Senate came back into session for less than an hour on Thursday so one senator could take the floor and get the $600 million border security bill passed and sent to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it.
The bill, said Sen...
State Controller John Chiang says more than $2 billion in state bills will go unpaid if lawmakers do not reach a budget accord by the end of August.
In a chart on his website,...
Dejames Oree Henderson (Dakota Co....
Despite California's $19 billion budget deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration said Wednesday it will borrow nearly $65 million from the state's cash-strapped general fund to begin building a new 1,152-bed death row at San Quentin State Prison....
The bad old days of the Los Angeles Police Department are mostly behind us. Thanks to the Christopher Commission reforms, a federal consent decree, the seven-year tenure of former Chief William J. Bratton and the continuance of his approach to policing by Chief...
There is increased frequency with which officers are being disciplined or finding themselves at the wrong end of a department policy based on their use (or misuse) of electronic media. Specifically, social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter...
Thanks to the sagging stock market and the dearth of jobs in the state, many Californians have...
Unions representing first responders in Hermosa Beach have filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming a recent decision approving reductions to retirement benefits is a violation of state law.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court,...
A Los Angeles police officer who helped to save a newborn's life near Koreatown 28 years ago was scheduled Wednesday morning to reunite with the now-grown person. The officer, Paul Hernandez, is now a captain.
He was patrolling the area near West Second...
The chaotic, potentially dangerous ending to a high-speed car chase last week has raised questions among high-ranking Los Angeles Police Department officials over the tactics and force several officers used to apprehend the driver.
Tonsha Wilcher, 39,...
Government statisticians have put a number on Californians' paycheck pain last year: about $40...
In an era of steep budget cuts, police officers' work just gets harder. Watch and listen to the multimedia presentation by Robert Nickelsberg for...
The Senate voted 34-0 Monday to send Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a bill that would make it illegal to smuggle a cell phone to a state prison inmate or to possess one while in prison.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, passed the...
Union officials were counting votes through the night on a deal expected to save 85 Sacramento County Sheriff's Department jobs this year.
If members of the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff's Association ratified the deal - as expected - the Board of...
Victims of the "Grim Sleeper" serial killer are being honored with a photo memorial in South Los Angeles.
Pictures of 10 slain women were placed in front of Bethel AME Church on Tuesday-the 25th anniversary of the first killing.
Organizers say it'...
The California Supreme Court yesterday unanimously upheld the death sentence in the murder of a Manhattan Beach police officer.
Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar, writing for the court, rejected arguments that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen E. O'Neil...
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is getting a new eye in the sky to help fight crime and wildfires.
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved spending $2.6 million to buy video equipment that can transmit real-time images from aircraft...
An alleged gang member who tried to gun down a 9-year-old girl playing in a North Hollywood backyard continues to elude police and detectives on Tuesday asked the public for help in identifying the suspect.
Police could not say if the shooting was a gang...
A luncheon is scheduled for a veteran clerk who is retiring after working for the Los Angeles Police Department for more than six decades.
Marlene Greenfield was set to retire after 60 years and two months of service with LAPD, according to a statement...
The Chicago Police Department is working with the Illinois Institute of Technology and the Rand Corp. on an innovative project that will help pinpoint hot spots of criminal activity.
The process -- called predictive analytics -- is to analyze every...
A new attorney took over the defense today for a South Los Angeles car mechanic accused of being the "Grim Sleeper" serial killer.
During a brief court hearing in downtown Los Angeles, Louisa Pensanti said she was taking the case against Lonnie Franklin...
